Pages tagged Palestine

by James J. Zogby This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in which Great Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, stated in a note to his colleague, Lord Rothchild, that "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object..." Zionists have long viewed this document as a "promissory note" giving a Great Power "seal of approval" to their quest to establish a state in Palestine. They will, therefore, be celebrating this anniversary. In reality, however,...

by James J. Zogby Last week a group of Likud members and experts presented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a plan to carve up Arab Jerusalem in somewhat the same way that Hebron was dismembered. Some saw news of this effort as a positive sign that the Netanyahu government might be considering ideas that would end direct rule over almost 300,000 Palestinians. In fact, the intent was quite different. The design behind the plan was both financial and racist. By shedding Israel of the responsibility of providing support for these Palestinians, "billions of shekels" would be saved....

by James J. Zogby Last week Israel announced that the heart of Hebron would henceforth be a separate municipality directly governed by Israel's Civil Administration. There are about 700 extremist Israeli settlers currently living in a few compounds in the center of the city protected by the Israeli military. While this disruptive and provocative presence has been ongoing for more than two decades, the decision to formally sever Hebron into two cities was profoundly unsettling, though not entirely unexpected. Twenty-two years ago, I wrote down my observations of what was happening in Hebron—in an effort to convey how...

Local elementary school students demonstrated their solidarity with Susiya by participating in Pinwheels for Peace ahead of the International Day of Peace by handing out pinwheels to those in attendance of the briefing By Sarah Seniuk Susiya is a small Palestinian village located in the southern Hebron Hills, and has been a particularly sought-after area of land by Israel. The villagers were first displaced in 1986 for an archaeological dig, and since have faced

by James J. Zogby It is fascinating to watch some US senators tripping over themselves as they attempt to defend their support for or opposition to proposed legislation that would make it a federal crime to support the international campaign to Boycott, Divest, or Sanction (BDS) Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian lands. What ties these officials up in knots are their efforts to square the circle of their "love of Israel", their opposition to BDS, their support for a "two-state solution", and their commitment to free speech. The bill in question, S720, was introduced on...

Last week, we told you about the ACLU’s letter urging members of Congress to refrain from cosponsoring the so-called “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” because American citizens have a constitutional right to boycott Israel if they want to (duh!). Subsequently, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) responded to the ACLU, insisting that they were blowing things out of proportion when they said what we've been saying for years now, and claiming the bill “does [not] punish individuals or companies from [sic] refusing to do business with Israel based on their own political beliefs.” That’s...

Given the current political climate and congressional efforts to defund the Palestinian Authority over concerns about terrorism (everything wrong with these efforts is explained here), one would expect Trump’s State Department to sing the same tune. But it looks like a level of independence and common sense is still intact in the State Department, which just put out a report on terrorism that threw some who, dare we say, maybe less informed for a loop. The report praises the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to prevent violence and terror attacks, noting they thwarted hundreds of attacks,...